Frank Gehry: A Renowned Architect
Frank Gehry is a Canadian-American architect best known for his work on the Walt Disney Connect Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. He was a very famous architect throughout his career, and as a result, he is still remembered today.
Early Life and Education
Frank Owen Goldberg, also known as Frank Gehry, was born on February 28, 1929, in Ontario, Canada. In Los Angeles, Frank attended the College of Southern California and Harvard University. Frank Gehry was a well-known architect of the twentieth century.
Creative Designs and Fabrications
Gehry was very creative in designs, shapes, and fabrications (Lindsey and Frank 12).
Primary Life
Frank Gehry lived with his parents for a long period of time. His mother was, Sadie Thelma, a Polish Jewish immigrant and his father was Irving Goldberg who was from Brooklyn in New York from Jewish parents. Gehry at a young age was very creative and could build imaginary houses and futuristic cities with scraps from his grandfather's hardware. His grandmother, Leah Calpin used to encourage him on his imaginative creativity. At his grandfather's hardware, where he used to spend his Saturday mornings, Gehry used a rigid brace, chain connected fencing, unpainted plywood, and other serviceable scraps. With his father Irving Goldberg, he spent time drawing. His mother understood his talent very well and she was the one who introduced him to the world of art and drive him into art.
Education
Frank and his family moved to California, United States in the year 1947. Frank Gehry was employed as a driver in the delivery truck, and at the same time, Gehry schooled at Los Angeles City Campus. Later Gehry attained a certificate from the School of Architecture of the University of Southern California and also as a Gehry Frank Alfa Epsilon Pi as a member.
Frank Gehry tried so many things such as being a radio presenter and chemical engineering, but both never worked. After trying and failing, Gehry thought of himself about his talents and his purpose. He remembered how he and his mother used to visit the museum and how he loved looking at paintings and listening to music. This time also Gehry tried some architecture course, and he graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor's degree in Architecture. After the architectural course graduation Gehry found vacancies that were not related to his career, such as serving in the United States Army. In 1956 Gehry together with his family moved to Cambridge. In Cambridge Gehry furthered his studies in Harvard Graduate School of Design where he pursued city planning (Sorkin and Frank 132). At this time, the architecture course was under-realized, and this caused Gehry to move before completing the program.
Career
Gehry moved back to Los Angeles, California from Harvard, Gehry was employed by Victor Gruen Associates. Gehry, with the help of a friend and old classmate Greg Walsh, at the age of 28 years designed and constructed his first residence. Later in 1961, Gehry moved to Paris where he was employed by Andre Remonde in the architectural department. Between 1962 and 1967, Gehry was able to establish training in Los Angeles, California, that was called Frank Gehry and Associates and in the year 2001 the name was changed to Gehry Partners. Most of Gehry's famous work was done in California; he designed a number of residential structures like eccentric Norton House (1984) in Venice, California, and innovative commercial structures like Santa Monica Place in 1980.
Gehry made his name known around the 1980s by completing other designs such as Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro and the California Aerospace Museum at the California Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles. Gehry's work of design and construction was very exceptional, and this made him win the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989 (Lindsey and Frank 15). The prize made Gehry very famous. He was able to continue securing many other notable building designs in California such as Day Building in Venice, Frederick Weisman Museum of Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Dancing House in Prague (Boland et al. 312). Gehry also gained international commissions and was able to complete popular designs in Spain like the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
Later Life
Gehry has established his name due to his post-modern designs and won some Pritzker Prize (1989). Gehry has worked in various college institutes like Columbia University, Yale, and the University of Southern California (USC) as a lecturer of architecture. Gehry was a member of the board at USC School of Architecture. He also involved himself in television agendas like in the Simpsons, and he appears in Apple promotions. He became a chief of Sydney Pollack and Sketches of Frank Gehry which purposely dealt with architect work and legacy (2005).
Gehry has maintained the position of the world's best architect and has been referred as 'starchitect,' a name that he has always rejected. Recently, in 2016, Barack Obama awarded Gehry the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Works Cited
Lindsey, Bruce, and Frank O. Gehry. Digital Gehry. Englische Ausgabe.: Material Resistance Digital Construction. Springer Science & Business Media, 2001.
Boland Jr, Richard J., et al. “Managing as designing: lessons for organization leaders from the design practice of Frank O. Gehry.” Design issues 24.1 (2008): 10-25.
Sorkin, Michael, and Frank O. Gehry. Gehry talks: architecture+ process. Rizzoli Intl Pubns, 1999.
